“The Ombudsman's Office expresses concern about the lack of protection of migrant people with titles that have an expired validity date, and calls for the reinforcement of the dissemination of information in this regard among Public Administration services and foreign citizens in Portugal”, reads a statement from the Ombudsman's Office.

According to the information, the issues relate to migrants originating outside the European Union and applicants for international protection, who currently have permanence or residence documents that have expired, but which a 2020 decree maintains are “entirely valid for all legal purposes” until 30 June, 2025.

“Even after this date, the documents will be considered valid if their holders present proof of scheduling for renewal”, explains the Ombudsman.

The Ombudsman's Office highlights the need for public services to “be properly informed and correctly apply” the law to guarantee the regular stay of foreign citizens in national territory.

“Complaints and information received at the Ombudsman's Office suggest, however, the existence in public services of cases of denial of analysis of requests based on the expiration of expired documents, despite the law allowing their use. In addition to generating unjustified difficulties for people covered by the legal extension, the flaws detected in the information chain translate, in practice, into unacceptable differentiation of treatment, depending on the greater or lesser knowledge of the law at the time of service”, criticised the Ombudsman.

The document also adds that “the doubts created needlessly lead to an overflow of foreign citizens at AIMA stores [Agência para a Integração, Migrações e Asilo] to request information about the legal extension, which can be avoided and causes entropy in a service that is already under heavy pressure.”

The Ombudsman reiterates the “urgent need to improve the dissemination of information about the extension of the validity of foreign citizens’ documents in Portugal”, ensuring that “migrants can exercise their rights without obstacles”.

To this end, it suggests that service management “issue guidelines to ensure adequate dissemination of information among services and their workers, notably through the display of materials made available by AIMA in places where citizens are served”.